Systems and methods for identifying suspect illicit merchants

ABSTRACT

An illicit website identifying (IWI) computing device is described herein, the IWI computing device configured to store a log of suspect illicit websites, the log including website content associated with each suspect illicit website. Each suspect illicit website is associated with a respective merchant. The IWI computing device is also configured to receive transaction data for at least one transaction initiated at a first suspect illicit website, the first suspect illicit website included within the log of suspect illicit websites, and analyze the received transaction data to identify one or more transactions including at least a portion of the website content associated with the first suspect illicit website. The IWI computing device is further configured to identify the first suspect illicit website and the merchant associated therewith as illicit for further investigation, and generate an identification report including the identified illicit website and merchant.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates to illicit e-commerce and, more specifically, tonetwork-based systems and methods for identifying suspect illicitmerchants by using financial transaction data.

Over the past several years, e-commerce has increased to the point whereover one million dollars of e-commerce transactions occur about every 30seconds. Understandably, many merchants now provide virtual purchaseplatforms (in addition to in-person, brick-and-mortar purchaseplatforms), offering merchant-run websites that allow consumers tobrowse their stores and purchase goods simply and conveniently. However,as legitimate e-commerce has increased in volume, illegitimatee-commerce has also increased. Illegitimate e-commerce refers generallyto illegal transactions performed over the Internet, including sellingcounterfeit goods, selling illegal products (e.g., prohibitedsubstances), or trafficking in child pornography. Such illegitimatee-commerce may cause brand and/or reputation damage for a number ofparties, for example, the brands whose goods are being counterfeited, aswell as the payment processing network that processes and thereforefacilitates such illicit transactions. There is a need for a system thatidentifies websites, merchants, and/or acquirers suspected of suchillicit activity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

In one aspect, an illicit website identifying (IWI) computing deviceincluding a processor in communication with a memory is provided. Theprocessor is programmed to store, at the memory, a log of suspectillicit websites. The log includes website content associated with eachsuspect illicit website, and each suspect illicit website is associatedwith a respective merchant. The processor is also configured to receivetransaction data for at least one transaction initiated at a firstsuspect illicit website, the first suspect illicit website includedwithin the log of suspect illicit websites. The processor is furtherconfigured to analyze the received transaction data to identify one ormore transactions including at least a portion of the website contentassociated with the first suspect illicit website, identify the firstsuspect illicit website and the merchant associated therewith as illicitfor further investigation, and generate an identification reportincluding the identified illicit website and merchant.

In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for identifying illicitwebsites and merchants using an illicit website identifying (IWI)computing device including a processor in communication with a memory isprovided. The method includes storing, at the memory, a log of suspectillicit websites. The log includes website content associated with eachsuspect illicit website, and each suspect illicit website is associatedwith a respective merchant. The method also includes receivingtransaction data for at least one transaction initiated at a firstsuspect illicit website, the first suspect illicit website includedwithin the log of suspect illicit websites, and analyzing the receivedtransaction data to identify one or more transactions including at leasta portion of the website content associated with the first suspectillicit website. The method further includes identifying the firstsuspect illicit website and the merchant associated therewith as illicitfor further investigation, and generating an identification reportincluding the identified illicit website and merchant.

In yet another aspect, at least one non-transitory computer-readablestorage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereonis provided. When executed by at least one processor in communicationwith a memory, the computer-executable instructions cause the processorto store, at the memory, a log of suspect illicit websites, the logincluding website content associated with each suspect illicit website.Each suspect illicit website is associated with a respective merchant.The computer-executable instructions also cause the processor to receivetransaction data for at least one transaction initiated at a firstsuspect illicit website, the first suspect illicit website includedwithin the log of suspect illicit websites, and analyze the receivedtransaction data to identify one or more transactions including at leasta portion of the website content associated with the first suspectillicit website. The computer-executable instructions further cause theprocessor to identify the first suspect illicit website and the merchantassociated therewith as illicit for further investigation, and generatean identification report including the identified illicit website andmerchant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-8 show example embodiments of the methods and systems describedherein.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example multi-partypayment card system that includes an illicit website identificationcomputing device.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of an example illicit activitymonitoring (IAM) computer system used to leverage transaction datareceived from the payment card system shown in FIG. 1 to identifymerchants suspected to be engaged in illicit e-commerce and websitesassociated therewith.

FIG. 3 is an expanded block diagram of an example embodiment of acomputer server system architecture of a processing system used toleverage transaction data to identify suspects merchants and/or suspectwebsites in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example configuration of a server system that maybe used with the IAM computer system shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example configuration of a user system operated bya user that may be used with the IAM computer system shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a simplified data flow diagram for identifying illicitwebsites and merchants associated therewith using the IAM computersystem shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method for identifying illicit websites andmerchants associated therewith using the IAM computer system shown inFIG. 2.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of components of an illicit website identifying(IWI) computing device that may be used in using the IAM computer systemshown in FIG. 2.

Like numbers in the Figures indicates the same or functionally similarcomponents. Although specific features of various embodiments may beshown in some figures and not in others, this is for convenience only.Any feature of any figure may be referenced and/or claimed incombination with any feature of any other figure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

Private groups and public agencies, including governmental agencies andinvestigating departments within certain privately owned companies, havebeen established to locate, investigate, and shut down illicitmerchants. These agencies use systems configured to detect illicitmerchants that may include web-crawling for particular keywords (e.g.,brand names of popular counterfeit items such as high-end handbags ormedicines, brand name misspellings, combinations of brand names withwords such as “cheap,” etc.) and report feedback (e.g., reports fromconsumers, legitimate manufacturers, law-enforcement agencies, etc.) ofillicit merchants or goods. In these known systems, a list of suspectwebsites is assembled that requires further investigation. At least oneof the problems with these known systems is that it is incrediblydifficult and time consuming to investigate each particular suspectwebsite, in part due to the sheer volume of suspect websites.Accordingly, there is a need for a system that facilitates a narrowingof the pool of suspect websites by leveraging additional data to flag oridentify websites that are more likely to be associated with illicitactivity.

The illicit activity monitoring (IAM) system described herein isconfigured to leverage transaction data with reported feedback as wellas web-crawled data to identify suspect merchants or acquirers (e.g.,merchant banks or financial institutions) for further investigation. TheIAM system includes a payment processing network configured to processpayment transactions initiated by cardholders having a payment cardassociated with the payment processing network. The payment processingnetwork may include one or more transaction processors and/or one ormore transaction databases for storing data associated with theprocessed transactions (“transaction data”). Transaction data mayinclude, for example, a transaction amount, a merchant name (or otheridentifier), a merchant address, a merchant category code (an indicationof the industry or type of business in which the merchant is involved),a country code for the merchant, a country code of the cardholder,and/or a product identifier (e.g., Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) or Line Itemdata; product identifier may be included in authorization of transactionand/or during clearing of transaction). The payment processing networkprovides transaction processing services to a plurality of acquiringbanks, which generally service merchants, and a plurality of issuingbanks, which generally service cardholders. Accordingly, the transactiondatabase(s) included in the payment processing network may maintain alist or log of acquiring banks that are customers of the paymentprocessing network, including identifiers, addresses, and/or otherinformation associated therewith. Each acquiring bank has one or moreindividual merchant customers that use the services of the paymentprocessing network through the acquiring bank. Accordingly, eachacquiring bank may maintain a list or log of merchants that arecustomers of the acquiring bank, including identifiers, addresses,and/or other information associated therewith. Additionally oralternatively, the payment processing network may maintain the list orlog of merchants associated with each acquiring bank.

The IAM system further includes at least one web-crawler. A“web-crawler” refers generally to software configured to browse theInternet and index or copy visited websites (wherein a website mayinclude one or more webpages) for further analysis. Web-crawlers may beadditionally or alternatively configured to extract information fromvisited websites, for example, according to keywords or other programmedinstructions. In the example embodiment, the web-crawler may beconfigured to index, copy, and/or extract information from websitesincluding specific keywords related to illicit online activity. Theweb-crawler may be integral to and/or associated with the paymentprocessing network, or may be associated with a third party.

The IAM system further includes at least one reporting database (whichmay be integral to or separate from the transaction database(s)described above) for storing information, including web-crawled data,reported feedback from third parties, as well as logs of activeacquirers and/or merchants associated with the payment processingnetwork (described above). The web-crawled data and/or reported feedbackinclude a number of suspect illicit websites. The suspect illicitwebsites may have been identified by the web-crawler as including one ormore suspect keywords, or by feedback from one or more third partiesthat the website includes suspect website content (e.g., sells orappears to sell counterfeit or other illegal merchandise). In theexample embodiment, the reporting database further includes a set ofinstructions for a web-crawler to implement on suspect illicit websites(also referred to herein as “suspect websites”). The instructions directthe web-crawler to mine the suspect websites for additional websitecontent associated with the suspect illicit products (also referred toherein as “suspect products”) being offered for sale on the suspectwebsites. For example, the website content may include one or more of:(i) merchant details such as a name, address, and/or country of themerchant associated with the suspect website; (ii) a product priceassociated with the suspect product(s); and/or (iii) additional productdetails associated with the suspect product(s), such as a productdescription (e.g., handbag) and/or SKU data or other product code.

In the example embodiment, the IAM system further includes an illicitwebsite identifying (IWI) computing device in communication with atleast the payment processing network (e.g., a transaction processorand/or transaction database integral thereto) and the reportingdatabase. The IWI computing device is configured to receive transactiondata from the payment processing network and analyze the receivedtransaction data for transactions that match the suspect websites. Morespecifically, the IWI computing device analyzes the transaction data toidentify transactions that include at least a portion of the websitecontent associated with the suspect websites, for example, the merchantname or address and/or the suspect product. The IWI computing devicethen “flags” or identifies the suspect website and/or a merchant oracquirer associated therewith as an illicit website and/or an illicitmerchant or acquirer for further investigation. Such identification ofthe suspect website as illicit may include sending a message to aninvestigating party (e.g., the payment processing network, a lawenforcement agency, etc.). The identification may additionally oralternatively include a message (e.g., a warning or cease-and-desist) tothe merchant associated with the illicit website and/or to the acquirerassociated with that merchant. A log or report of flagged or identifiedwebsites, merchants, and/or acquirers may be stored at the reportingdatabase.

In some embodiments, the IWI computing device is configured to implementone or more rules or parameters to determine whether to identify asuspect website and/or a merchant or acquirer associated therewith. Forexample, one rule may require that two or more fields match, betweentransaction data associated with a transaction made on the suspectwebsite and the website content of the suspect website, such as both amerchant name and a product price. As another example, certainparameters may employ semi-empirical data that encourages identificationof a suspect website and/or a merchant or acquirer associated therewith,such as a merchant country code of “high-risk” countries including Chinaor India (which may be known to be a common source of certain illicitproducts). As yet another example, the IWI computing device mayimplement a rule that causes flagging or identification of a suspectwebsite as illicit upon deviation of a transaction amount and/or productprice from a known “normal” price. For example, the IWI computing devicemay maintain a list or log of commonly counterfeit items along withtheir suggested retail price (from a legitimate retailer) on thereporting database. When a transaction is initiated on a suspect illicitwebsite for a product matching the description of the commonlycounterfeit item, with a much lower price (e.g., a certain percentagelower), the IWI computing device may flag the suspect webpage and/or amerchant or acquirer associated therewith as illicit.

The methods and systems described herein may be implemented usingcomputer programming or engineering techniques including computersoftware, firmware, hardware, or any combination or subset therefor. Atleast one of the technical problems addressed by this system includes:(i) difficult and time-consuming tracking and identification of suspectmerchants conducting fraudulent or illicit transactions over webpages;(ii) disparate reporting sources of illicit merchants, those sourceslacking communication therebetween and/or having difficultycross-referencing or aggregating reports; and (iii) delay in respondingto reports requiring investigation.

The technical effect of the systems and methods described herein isachieved by performing at least one of the following steps: (a) storing,at a memory, a log of suspect illicit websites, the log includingwebsite content associated with each suspect illicit website, whereineach suspect illicit website is associated with a respective merchant;(b) receiving transaction data for at least one transaction initiated ata first suspect illicit website, the first suspect illicit websiteincluded within the log of suspect illicit websites; (c) analyzing thereceived transaction data to identify one or more transactions includingat least a portion of the website content associated with the firstsuspect illicit website; (d) identifying the first suspect illicitwebsite and the merchant associated therewith as illicit for furtherinvestigation; and (e) generating an identification report including theidentified illicit website and merchant.

By performing these steps, the systems and methods solve the aboveproblems specific to e-commerce of tracking, identification, andmonitoring suspect illicit merchants. More specifically, the systems andmethods provide: (i) enhanced leveraging of existing data to identifymerchants engaging in illicit e-commerce; (ii) improved response timefollowing identification of suspect merchants; and (iii) optimizedtracking, identification, and monitoring of online merchants andassociated websites using e-commerce-specific tools.

Described herein are computer systems such as an illicit websiteidentification (IWI) computing device, a payment network computingdevice, merchant computing devices, client computing devices, andrelated systems. As described herein, all such computer systems includea processor and a memory. However, the IWI computing device isspecifically configured to carry out the steps described herein.

Further, any processor in a computer device referred to herein may alsorefer to one or more processors wherein the processor may be in onecomputing device or a plurality of computing devices acting in parallel.Additionally, any memory in a computer device referred to herein mayalso refer to one or more memories wherein the memories may be in onecomputing device or a plurality of computing devices acting in parallel.

As used herein, a processor may include any programmable systemincluding systems using micro-controllers, reduced instruction setcircuits (RISC), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), logiccircuits, and any other circuit or processor capable of executing thefunctions described herein. The above examples are example only, and arethus not intended to limit in any way the definition and/or meaning ofthe term “processor.”

As used herein, the term “database” may refer to either a body of data,a relational database management system (RDBMS), or to both. As usedherein, a database may include any collection of data includinghierarchical databases, relational databases, flat file databases,object-relational databases, object oriented databases, and any otherstructured collection of records or data that is stored in a computersystem. The above examples are example only, and thus are not intendedto limit in any way the definition and/or meaning of the term database.Examples of RDBMS's include, but are not limited to including, Oracle®Database, MySQL, IBM® DB2, Microsoft® SQL Server, Sybase®, andPostgreSQL. However, any database may be used that enables the systemsand methods described herein. (Oracle is a registered trademark ofOracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, Calif.; IBM is a registeredtrademark of International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y.;Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, Redmond,Wash.; and Sybase is a registered trademark of Sybase, Dublin, Calif.)

In one embodiment, a computer program is provided, and the program isembodied on a computer readable medium. In an example embodiment, thesystem is executed on a single computer system, without requiring aconnection to a sever computer. In a further embodiment, the system isbeing run in a Windows® environment (Windows is a registered trademarkof Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.). In yet another embodiment,the system is run on a mainframe environment and a UNIX® serverenvironment (UNIX is a registered trademark of X/Open Company Limitedlocated in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom). The application isflexible and designed to run in various different environments withoutcompromising any major functionality. In some embodiments, the systemincludes multiple components distributed among a plurality of computingdevices. One or more components may be in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium.

As used herein, an element or step recited in the singular and precededwith the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not excluding pluralelements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly recited.Furthermore, references to “example embodiment” or “one embodiment” ofthe present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excludingthe existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate therecited features.

As used herein, the terms “software” and “firmware” are interchangeable,and include any computer program stored in memory for execution by aprocessor, including RAM memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROMmemory, and non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) memory. The above memory types areexample only, and are thus not limiting as to the types of memory usablefor storage of a computer program.

The systems and processes are not limited to the specific embodimentsdescribed herein. In addition, components of each system and eachprocess can be practiced independent and separate from other componentsand processes described herein. Each component and process also can beused in combination with other assembly packages and processes.

As used herein, the terms “transaction card,” “financial transactioncard,” and “payment card” refer to any suitable transaction card, suchas a credit card, a debit card, a prepaid card, a charge card, amembership card, a promotional card, a frequent flyer card, anidentification card, a gift card, and/or any other device that may holdpayment account information, such as mobile phones, smartphones,personal digital assistants (PDAs), key fobs, and/or computers. Eachtype of transaction card can be used as a method of payment forperforming a transaction.

The following detailed description illustrates embodiments of thedisclosure by way of example and not by way of limitation. It iscontemplated that the disclosure has general application toidentification of suspect illicit websites and/or merchants suspected toengage in illicit e-commerce.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example multi-partypayment card system 20 that includes an illicit website identificationcomputing device 112. The present disclosure relates to payment cardsystem 20, such as a credit card payment system using the MasterCard®payment card system payment network 28 (also referred to as an“interchange” or “interchange network”). MasterCard® payment card systempayment network 28 is a proprietary communications standard promulgatedby MasterCard International Incorporated® for the exchange of financialtransaction data between financial institutions that are members ofMasterCard International Incorporated®. (MasterCard is a registeredtrademark of MasterCard International Incorporated located in Purchase,N.Y.).

In payment card system 20, a financial institution such as an issuer 30issues a payment card for an account, such as a credit card account or adebit card account, to a cardholder 22, who uses the payment card totender payment for a purchase from a merchant 24. To accept payment withthe payment card, merchant 24 must normally establish an account with afinancial institution that is part of the financial payment system. Thisfinancial institution is usually called the “merchant bank” or the“acquiring bank” or “acquirer bank” or simply “acquirer”. When acardholder 22 tenders payment for a purchase with a payment card (alsoknown as a financial transaction card), merchant 24 requestsauthorization from acquirer 26 for the amount of the purchase. Such arequest is referred to herein as an authorization request message. Therequest may be performed over the telephone, but is usually performedthrough the use of a point-of-interaction terminal, also referred toherein as a point-of-sale device, which reads the cardholder's accountinformation from the magnetic stripe on the payment card andcommunicates electronically with the transaction processing computers ofacquirer 26. Alternatively, acquirer 26 may authorize a third party toperform transaction processing on its behalf. In this case, thepoint-of-interaction terminal will be configured to communicate with thethird party. Such a third party is usually called a “merchant processor”or an “acquiring processor.”

Using payment card system payment network 28, the computers of acquirer26 or the merchant processor will communicate with the computers ofissuer 30, to determine whether the cardholder's account 32 is in goodstanding and whether the purchase is covered by the cardholder'savailable credit line or account balance. Based on these determinations,the request for authorization will be declined or accepted. If therequest is accepted, an authorization code is issued to merchant 24.

When a request for authorization is accepted, the available credit lineor available balance of cardholder's account 32 is decreased. Normally,a charge is not posted immediately to a cardholder's account becausebankcard associations, such as MasterCard International Incorporated®,have promulgated rules that do not allow a merchant to charge, or“capture,” a transaction until goods are shipped or services aredelivered. When a merchant ships or delivers the goods or services,merchant 24 captures the transaction by, for example, appropriate dataentry procedures on the point-of-interaction terminal. If a cardholdercancels a transaction before it is captured, a “void” is generated. If acardholder returns goods after the transaction has been captured, a“credit” is generated.

For debit card transactions, when a request for authorization isapproved by the issuer, the cardholder's account 32 is decreased.Normally, a charge is posted immediately to cardholder's account 32. Thebankcard association then transmits the approval to the acquiringprocessor for distribution of goods/services, or information or cash inthe case of an ATM.

After a transaction is captured, the transaction is settled betweenmerchant 24, acquirer 26, and issuer 30. Settlement refers to thetransfer of financial data or funds between the merchant's account,acquirer 26, and issuer 30 related to the transaction. Usually,transactions are captured and accumulated into a “batch,” which issettled as a group.

As described herein, illicit website identification (IWI) computingdevice 112 is in communication with payment network 28 and accordinglymay receive transaction data associated with each transaction processedon payment network 28. IWI computing device 112 is configured toreceive, send, and process transactions initiated by cardholders 22 atwebsites maintained by or otherwise associated with suspect merchants24.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of an example illicit activitymonitoring (IAM) computer system 100 used to leverage transaction datato identify merchants suspected to be engaged in illicit e-commerce(“suspect merchants” or “suspect illicit merchants”) and websitesassociated therewith (“suspect websites” or “suspect illicit websites”).In the example embodiment, IAM system 100 is used for storing a log ofsuspect illicit websites, the log including website content associatedwith each suspect illicit website, wherein each suspect illicit websiteis associated with a respective merchant, receiving transaction data forat least one transaction initiated at a first suspect illicit website,the first suspect illicit website included within the log of suspectillicit websites, analyzing the received transaction data to identifyone or more transactions including at least a portion of the websitecontent associated with the first suspect illicit website, identifyingthe first suspect illicit website and the merchant associated therewithas illicit for further investigation, and/or generating anidentification report including the identified illicit website andmerchant, as described herein.

More specifically, in the example embodiment, IAM system 100 includes anillicit website identification (IWI) computing device 112, and aplurality of client sub-systems, also referred to as client systems 114,connected to IWI computing device 112. In one embodiment, client systems114 are computers including a web browser, such that IWI computingdevice 112 is accessible to client systems 114 using the Internet.Client systems 114 are interconnected to the Internet through manyinterfaces including a network 115, such as a local area network (LAN)or a wide area network (WAN), dial-in-connections, cable modems, specialhigh-speed Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) lines, and RDTnetworks. Client systems 114 may include systems associated withcardholders 22 or merchants 24 (both shown in FIG. 1). IWI computingdevice 112 is also in communication with payment network 28 (also shownin FIG. 1) using network 115. Further, client systems 114 mayadditionally communicate with payment network 28 using network 115.Client systems 114 could be any device capable of interconnecting to theInternet including a web-based phone, PDA, or other web-basedconnectable equipment.

A database server 116 is connected to database 120, which containsinformation on a variety of matters, as described below in greaterdetail. In one embodiment, centralized database 120 is stored on IWIcomputing device 112 and can be accessed by potential users at one ofclient systems 114 by logging onto IWI computing device 112 through oneof client systems 114. In an alternative embodiment, database 120 isstored remotely from IWI computing device 112 and may benon-centralized. Databases 116 and 120 may be configured to storetransaction data; merchant logs; acquirer logs; web-crawlerinstructions, keywords, indices, and/or results; third-party reports ofsuspect merchants and/or websites associated therewith; website content;product details including prices; flagged or identified suspectmerchants and/or websites; and/or flagging or identification rules orparameters.

Database 120 may include a single database having separated sections orpartitions, or may include multiple databases, each being separate fromeach other. Database 120 may store transaction data generated over theprocessing network including data relating to merchants, accountholders, issuers, acquirers, and/or purchases made. Database 120 mayalso store account data including at least one of a cardholder name, acardholder address, an account number, other account identifiers, andtransaction information. Database 120 may also store merchantinformation including a merchant identifier that identifies eachmerchant registered to use the network, instructions for settlingtransactions including merchant bank account information, merchantcountry codes, and merchant category codes. Database 120 may also storepurchase data associated with items being purchased by a cardholder froma merchant, and authorization request data.

In one embodiment, one of client systems 114 may be associated withacquirer bank 26 (shown in FIG. 1) while another one of client systems114 may be associated with issuer bank 30 (shown in FIG. 1). In anotherembodiment, one of client systems 114 may be associated with cardholder22 while another one of client systems 114 may be associated withmerchant 24. IWI computing device 112 may be associated with interchangenetwork 28. In the example embodiment, IWI computing device 112 isassociated with a network interchange, such as interchange network 28,and may be referred to as an interchange computer system or toalternatively receive data from the interchange computer system. IWIcomputing device 112 may be used for processing transaction data. Inaddition, client systems 114 may include a computer system associatedwith at least one of an online bank, a bill payment outsourcer, anacquirer bank, an acquirer processor, an issuer bank associated with atransaction card, an issuer processor, a remote payment system,customers, and/or billers.

FIG. 3 is an expanded block diagram of an example embodiment of acomputer server system architecture of a processing system 122 used toleverage transaction data to identify suspects merchants and/or suspectwebsites in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.Components in system 122, identical to components of system 100 (shownin FIG. 2), are identified in FIG. 3 using the same reference numeralsas used in FIG. 2. System 122 includes illicit website identification(IWI) computing device 112 (alternately referred to herein as a “serversystem” or “server computing device” 112), client systems 114, andpayment systems 118. IWI computing device 112 further includes databaseserver 116, a transaction server 124, a web server 126, a userauthentication server 128, a directory server 130, and a mail server132. A storage device 134 is coupled to database server 116 anddirectory server 130. Servers 116, 124, 126, 128, 130, and 132 arecoupled in a local area network (LAN) 136. In addition, an issuer bankworkstation 138, an acquirer bank workstation 140, and a third partyprocessor workstation 142 may be coupled to LAN 136. In the exampleembodiment, issuer bank workstation 138, acquirer bank workstation 140,and third party processor workstation 142 are coupled to LAN 136 usingnetwork connection 115. Workstations 138, 140, and 142 are coupled toLAN 136 using an Internet link or are connected through an Intranet.

Each workstation 138, 140, and 142 is a personal computer having a webbrowser. Although the functions performed at the workstations typicallyare illustrated as being performed at respective workstations 138, 140,and 142, such functions can be performed at one of many personalcomputers coupled to LAN 136. Workstations 138, 140, and 142 areillustrated as being associated with separate functions only tofacilitate an understanding of the different types of functions that canbe performed by individuals having access to LAN 136.

IWI computing device 112 is configured to be operated by variousindividuals including employees 144 and to third parties, e.g., accountholders, customers, auditors, developers, consumers, merchants,acquirers, issuers, private and public fraud or illicit activityidentification or monitoring entities, etc., 146 using an ISP Internetconnection 148. The communication in the example embodiment isillustrated as being performed using the Internet, however, any otherwide area network (WAN) type communication can be utilized in otherembodiments, i.e., the systems and processes are not limited to beingpracticed using the Internet. In addition, and rather than WAN 150,local area network 136 could be used in place of WAN 150. IWI computingdevice 112 is also configured to be communicatively coupled to paymentsystems 118. Payment systems 118 include computer systems associatedwith merchant bank 26, interchange network 28, issuer bank 30 (all shownin FIG. 1), and interchange network 28. Additionally, payments systems118 may include computer systems associated with acquirer banks andprocessing banks. Accordingly, payment systems 118 are configured tocommunicate with IWI computing device 112 and provide transaction dataas discussed below.

In the example embodiment, any authorized individual having aworkstation 154 can access system 122. At least one of the clientsystems includes a manager workstation 156 located at a remote location.Workstations 154 and 156 are personal computers having a web browser.Also, workstations 154 and 156 are configured to communicate with IWIcomputing device 112.

Also, in the example embodiment, web server 126, transaction server 124,database server 116, and/or directory server 130 may host webapplications, and may run on multiple server systems 112. The term“suite of applications,” as used herein, refers generally to thesevarious web applications running on server systems 112.

Furthermore, user authentication server 128 is configured, in theexample embodiment, to provide user authentication services for thesuite of applications hosted by web server 126, transaction server 124,database server 116, and/or directory server 130. User authenticationserver 128 may communicate with remotely located client systems,including a client system 156. User authentication server 128 may beconfigured to communicate with other client systems 138, 140, and 142 aswell.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example configuration of a server system 301 suchas illicit website identification computing device 112 (shown in FIGS. 2and 3). Server system 301 may include, but is not limited to, databaseserver 116, transaction server 124, web server 126, user authenticationserver 128, directory server 130, and mail server 132. In the exampleembodiment, server system 301 analyzes transaction data to identifysuspect illicit websites and/or merchants, as described below.

Server system 301 includes a processor 305 for executing instructions.Instructions may be stored in a memory area 310, for example. Processor305 may include one or more processing units (e.g., in a multi-coreconfiguration) for executing instructions. The instructions may beexecuted within a variety of different operating systems on the serversystem 301, such as UNIX, LINUX, Microsoft Windows®, etc. It should alsobe appreciated that upon initiation of a computer-based method, variousinstructions may be executed during initialization. Some operations maybe required in order to perform one or more processes described herein,while other operations may be more general and/or specific to aparticular programming language (e.g., C, C#, C++, Java, or othersuitable programming languages, etc.).

Processor 305 is operatively coupled to a communication interface 315such that server system 301 is capable of communicating with a remotedevice such as a user system or another server system 301. For example,communication interface 315 may receive requests from client system 114via the Internet, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Processor 305 may also be operatively coupled to a storage device 134.Storage device 134 is any computer-operated hardware suitable forstoring and/or retrieving data. In some embodiments, storage device 134is integrated in server system 301. For example, server system 301 mayinclude one or more hard disk drives as storage device 134. In otherembodiments, storage device 134 is external to server system 301 and maybe accessed by a plurality of server systems 301. For example, storagedevice 134 may include multiple storage units such as hard disks orsolid state disks in a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID)configuration. Storage device 134 may include a storage area network(SAN) and/or a network attached storage (NAS) system.

In some embodiments, processor 305 is operatively coupled to storagedevice 134 via a storage interface 320. Storage interface 320 is anycomponent capable of providing processor 305 with access to storagedevice 134. Storage interface 320 may include, for example, an AdvancedTechnology Attachment (ATA) adapter, a Serial ATA (SATA) adapter, aSmall Computer System Interface (SCSI) adapter, a RAID controller, a SANadapter, a network adapter, and/or any component providing processor 305with access to storage device 134.

Memory area 310 may include, but are not limited to, random accessmemory (RAM) such as dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), andnon-volatile RAM (NVRAM). The above memory types are exemplary only, andare thus not limiting as to the types of memory usable for storage of acomputer program.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example configuration of a user system 402operated by a user 401, such as cardholder 22 (shown in FIG. 1). In someembodiments, user system 402 is a client system 114 (shown in FIG. 2).In the example embodiment, user system 402 includes a processor 405 forexecuting instructions. In some embodiments, executable instructions arestored in a memory area 410. Processor 405 may include one or moreprocessing units, for example, a multi-core configuration. Memory area410 is any device allowing information such as executable instructionsand/or written works to be stored and retrieved. Memory area 410 mayinclude one or more computer-readable media.

User system 402 also includes at least one media output component 415for presenting information to user 401. Media output component 415 isany component capable of conveying information to user 401. In someembodiments, media output component 415 includes an output adapter suchas a video adapter and/or an audio adapter. An output adapter isoperatively coupled to processor 405 and operatively couplable to anoutput device such as a display device, a liquid crystal display (LCD),organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, or “electronic ink”display, or an audio output device, a speaker or headphones.

In some embodiments, user system 402 includes an input device 420 forreceiving input from user 401. Input device 420 may include, forexample, a keyboard, a pointing device, a mouse, a stylus, a touchsensitive panel, a touch pad, a touch screen, a gyroscope, anaccelerometer, a position detector, or an audio input device. A singlecomponent such as a touch screen may function as both an output deviceof media output component 415 and input device 420. User system 402 mayalso include a communication interface 425, which is communicativelycouplable to a remote device such as IWI computing device 112 (shown inFIG. 2). Communication interface 425 may include, for example, a wiredor wireless network adapter or a wireless data transceiver for use witha mobile phone network, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM),3G, or other mobile data network or Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WIMAX).

Stored in memory area 410 are, for example, computer readableinstructions for providing a user interface to user 401 via media outputcomponent 415 and, optionally, receiving and processing input from inputdevice 420. A user interface may include, among other possibilities, aweb browser and client application. Web browsers enable users, such asuser 401, to display and interact with media and other informationtypically embedded on a web page or a website from, for example, amerchant 24 (shown in FIG. 1). A client application allows user 401 tointeract with a server application from, for example, a third-partyserver.

In one embodiment, computing device 402 is a client system (e.g., clientsystem 114, shown in FIG. 2) from which user 401 engages with an onlinemerchant (e.g., merchant 24, shown in FIG. 1) to perform a transactionthat undergoes analysis by IWI computing device 112 to identify whetherthe merchant is suspected to be engaged in illicit e-commerce (e.g.,selling counterfeit items, controlled substances, or contraband).

FIG. 6 is a simplified data flow diagram 600 for identifying illicitwebsites and merchants associated therewith using illicit websiteidentifying (IWI) computing device 112. As described herein, IWIcomputing device 112 receives transaction data 610 from interchangenetwork 28 (shown in FIG. 1), for example, from a payment processor (notshown) integral thereto. Transaction data 610 is associated with one ormore transactions initiated by a cardholder (e.g., cardholder 22, shownin FIG. 1) using a payment card (or any other payment device) at amerchant website (not shown in FIG. 6). Transaction data 610 includes anumber of elements, for example, a transaction amount 612 of the one ormore transactions initiated at the merchant website, and a merchantidentifier 614 of a merchant associated with the merchant website. Forexample, the merchant may maintain the merchant website, may sell one ormore products offered for sale at the merchant website, and/or may beotherwise associated with the merchant website and/or the contentthereon. Transaction data 610 further includes a merchant location 616of the associated merchant, such as a zip code or country code, and atleast one product identifier 618 of the product(s) purchased in the atleast one transaction.

IWI computing device 112 also receives a signal 621 from a client system602, which may be similar to one or more of client systems 114 (shown inFIG. 2). In the example embodiment, client system 602 includes aweb-crawler configured to “crawl” Internet content according to definedrules and parameters, which may include particular keywords, dateranges, websites or content of interest, and/or any other rules. Theweb-crawler may index, store, identify, and/or otherwise analyze orprocess crawled content. Signal 621 received from client system 602includes suspect website data 622 associated with at least one suspectwebsite. In the example embodiment, suspect website data 622 includes atleast one keyword 624. In some embodiments, keywords 624 represent asubset of a plurality of keywords provided to the web-crawler of clientsystem 602 to retrieve suspect website data 622. For example, theplurality of keywords provided to the web-crawler of client system 602may include words, terms, and/or phrases that are frequently associatedwith counterfeit, illegal, or otherwise illicit products, such as“deal,” “cheap,” “rare,” certain brand names, etc. The at least onekeyword 624 may include a one or more of those provided keywords thatwas found on the suspect website.

Suspect website data 622 also include website content 626, productdetails 628, and merchant details 630. Website content 626 may includetext- and/or image-based content retrieved from the suspect website andmay be analyzed (e.g., by IWI computing device 112) to determine whetherthe suspect website should be further investigated, as described herein.Website content 626 may or may not include one or more of keywords 624,product details 628, and merchant details 630. Product details 628include, for example, price, description, one or more images,specifications, and/or other details associated with one or moreproduct(s) offered for sale on the suspect website. Merchant details 630may include a merchant name, merchant identifier, merchant location,and/or other details associated with the merchant associated with thesuspect website and/or the product(s) offered for sale thereon.

IWI computing device 112 maintains a suspect website log 620, forexample, on an internal or external memory device in communicationtherewith (e.g., database 120, shown in FIG. 2). Suspect website log 620is populated with entries including suspect website data 622 receivedfrom client system 602 and includes at least website content 626associated with one or more suspect website(s). Suspect website data 622may be sorted, indexed, and/or otherwise organized according to any dataelements included in suspect website data 622. For example, IWIcomputing device 112 may index suspect website data 622 in suspectwebsite log 620 according to website content 626 (e.g., according towebsite, for example, URL), merchant details 630 (e.g., according tomerchant), product details 628 (e.g., according to product type, price,etc.), keywords 624, and/or any other data element (e.g., time and/ordate received from client system 602 in signal 621). IWI computingdevice 112 may update suspect website log 620 with received suspectwebsite data 622.

IWI computing device 112 also includes a rules module 640. In theexample embodiment, rules module 640 includes a plurality ofidentification parameters or rules 642. IWI computing device furtherincludes an identification module 650 configured to retrieve one or moreidentification rules 642 from rules module 620 to process and/or analyzereceived transaction data 610 against suspect website data 622 toidentify one or more suspect websites as illicit. Identification rules642 include rules or parameters to facilitate identification of suspectwebsite data 622 in received transaction data 610. Put another way,identification module 650 uses identification rules 642 to identify atwhich suspect websites any illicit transactions are taking place bycomparing suspect website data 622 and transaction data 610.Identification rules 642 may include, for example, a match of two ormore fields between transaction data 610 and suspect website data 622(e.g., website content 626, product details 628, and/or merchant details630), a match of a country code (e.g., merchant location 616) with ahigh-risk country code (e.g., China or India), and/or a mismatch betweenone or more elements of transaction data 610 and suspect website data622 (e.g., the transaction is processed by one or more parties notidentified in website content 626 or merchant details 630).

Merchant identifiers 614 and/or product identifiers 618 in receivedtransaction data 610 may not adhere to standards or naming conventions.For example, acquirers 26 may set their schema for these fields, suchthat these received data points may not match or correlate directly tosuspect website data 622 during the identification process. Accordingly,in some cases, IWI computing device 112 may process received transactiondata 610 (and/or suspect website data 622) to account for anymisspellings, aliases, abbreviations, acronyms, and/or other suchdifferences in merchant identifiers 614 and/or product identifiers 618.IWI computing device 112 may access database 120 to retrieve informationassociated with merchant identifiers 614 and/or product identifiers 618,wherein database 120 is configured to store collected, built,standardized, and aggregated merchant and/or product information (e.g.,identifiers, locations, etc.). Such collection, standardization, andaggregation is performed by various parties associated with interchangenetwork 28, including, in some embodiments, IWI computing device 112. Insome embodiments, IWI computing device 112, in addition to or instead ofaccessing database 120 to retrieve such information, may implement itsown set of rules, algorithms, and processes to standardize merchantand/or product identifiers 614, 618. For example, IWI computing device112 may be configured to process received product identifiers 618formatted as SKUs to parse particular items details therefrom.

In some embodiments, identification rules 642 may additionally oralternatively include “expected prices” for commonly counterfeit itemsand threshold(s) of deviation therefrom. For example, if a commonlycounterfeit product costs $5,000 from a legitimate manufacturer, aparticular identification rule 642 may include a deviation threshold of$1,000 from the legitimate cost (allowing for, for example, salesprices), such that any transaction data 610 identifying a purchase ofthat product at a transaction amount 612 of less than $4,000, thesuspect website is identified as an illicit website for furtherinvestigation.

In other words, IWI computing device 112 uses identification module 650to identify one or more suspect website and/or merchants or acquirersassociated therewith as illicit, based on received transaction data 610.Transaction data 610 serves as a verification or identification tool inthat an active or completed transaction on a suspect website verifiesthat illicit activity may be occurring thereon, whereas suspect websiteswithout any active or completed transactions associated therewith maypresent less potential harm to consumers. In some embodiments, IWIcomputing device 112 stores a table or log (not shown) identifying eachmerchant associated with an acquirer, such that, upon identification ofan illicit merchant, the associated acquirer may be identified. Itshould be understood that although suspect websites, merchants, and/oracquirers may be identified as “illicit” for further investigation, suchinvestigation may result in a finding that the website, merchant, and/oracquirer is not illicit. Accordingly, identification as “illicit” ismerely an internal identification that prompts such investigation and isnot taken as evidence or fact that the website, merchant, and/oracquirer is, in fact, partaking in or associated with illicitactivities.

IWI computing device 112 is configured to generate an identificationreport 652 based on the output from identification module 650.Identification report 652 may include one or more identified illicitwebsites, merchants, and/or acquirers. IWI computing device 112 maygenerate identification report 652 at regular intervals (e.g., everyday, every week, every month, etc.) and/or may generated identificationreport 652 upon each individual occurrence of an identified illicitwebsite, merchant, and/or acquirer. Additionally or alternatively, IWIcomputing device 112 may generate a separate identification report 652for each identified illicit website, merchant, and/or acquirer and/orfor each “category” of illicit parties (e.g., a merchant report 652, anacquirer report 652, and a website report 652).

IWI computing device 112 is configured to transmit an identificationsignal 654 to one or more parties. Identification signal 654 includesidentification report 652. In some embodiments, IWI computing device 112transmits identification signal 654 to one or more client systems 602.Client systems 602 may be associated with a law enforcement agencyand/or another investigatory party. In such embodiments, identificationsignal 654 may be configured to automatically prompt or cause initiationof an investigation into any identified party in identification report652. For example, identification signal 654 may be configured toactivate client system 602 to initiate an investigation into anidentified illicit party. IWI computing device 112 may additionally oralternatively transmit identification signal 654 to an identifiedillicit merchant 24 and/or an identified illicit acquirer 26.Identification signal 654 may include a warning signal 655 including acease and desist or other warning message to the identified illicitmerchant 24 and/or identified illicit acquirer 26 to stop any suspectedillicit activities. In the example embodiment, IWI computing device 112is configured to transmit any of the above-described message directly tothe associated party, for example, using network 115 (shown in FIG. 2).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method 700 for identifying illicit websitesand merchants associated therewith using the illicit activity monitoring(IAM) system 100 (shown in FIG. 2). Method 700 may be implemented byillicit website identifying (IWI) computing device 112 (shown in FIGS.2, 3, and 6). Method 700 includes storing 702 a log of suspect illicitwebsites (e.g., suspect website log 620, shown in FIG. 6). The log maybe stored at a memory (e.g., database 120, shown in FIG. 2). Inaddition, the log includes website content associated with each suspectillicit website, and each suspect illicit website is associated with arespective merchant. Method 700 further includes receiving 704transaction data (e.g., transaction data 610, shown in FIG. 6) for atleast one transaction initiated at a first suspect illicit website, thefirst suspect illicit website included within the log of suspect illicitwebsites.

Method 700 further includes analyzing 706 the received transaction datato identify one or more transactions including at least a portion of thewebsite content (e.g., website content 626, shown in FIG. 6) associatedwith the first suspect illicit website. Method 700 also includesidentifying 708 the first suspect illicit website and the merchantassociated therewith as illicit for further investigation and generating710 an identification report including the identified illicit websiteand merchant.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of components of illicit website identifying (IWI)computing device 112 that may be used in the illicit activity monitoring(IAM) system 100 shown in FIG. 1. A database 810 may be coupled withseveral separate components within IWI computing device 112, whichperform specific tasks. In this embodiment, database 810 includestransaction data 812, which may be received from, for example, a paymentprocessor in communication with IWI computing device 112. Database 810further includes a suspect website log 814, which includes websitecontent and other data associated with a plurality of suspect illicitwebsites, including merchants associated therewith. Database 810 alsoincludes identification rules 816 for identifying illicit merchants,websites, and/or acquirers, and at least one identification report 818including the identified illicit parties.

In the example embodiment, IWI computing device 112 includes a receivingcomponent 820, configured to receive transaction data 812 for at leastone transaction initiated at a first suspect illicit website, the firstsuspect illicit website included within the log of suspect illicitwebsites 814. IWI computing device 112 also includes an analyzingcomponent 830, configured to analyze the received transaction data 812to identify one or more transactions including at least a portion of thewebsite content associated with the first suspect illicit website. IWIcomputing device further includes an identification component 840configured to identify the first suspect illicit website and themerchant associated therewith as illicit for further investigation. Insome embodiments, analyzing component 830 and/or identificationcomponent 840 may retrieve and/or use one or more identification rules816 in the analysis and/or identification performed thereby. Althoughanalyzing component 830 and identification component 840 are describedas separate components performing separate functions, in someembodiments, analyzing component 830 and identification component 840may be a single component and/or may perform similar functions.

IWI computing device 112 further includes a generating component 850,which is configured to generate an identification report 818 includingthe identified illicit website and merchant. IWI computing device 112may include additional components that are not shown in FIG. 8,including, for example, a transmitting component configured to transmitan identification signal including generated identification report 818.

As will be appreciated based on the foregoing specification, theabove-discussed embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented usingcomputer programming or engineering techniques including computersoftware, firmware, hardware or any combination or subset thereof. Anysuch resulting computer program, having computer-readable and/orcomputer-executable instructions, may be embodied or provided within oneor more computer-readable media, thereby making a computer programproduct, i.e., an article of manufacture, according to the discussedembodiments of the disclosure. These computer programs (also known asprograms, software, software applications or code) include machineinstructions for a programmable processor, and can be implemented in ahigh-level procedural and/or object-oriented programming language,and/or in assembly/machine language. As used herein, the terms“machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable medium,” and“computer-readable media” refer to any computer program product,apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory,Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructionsand/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readablemedium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal.The “machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable medium,” and“computer-readable media,” however, do not include transitory signals(i.e., they are “non-transitory”). The term “machine-readable signal”refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data toa programmable processor.

This written description uses examples, including the best mode, toenable any person skilled in the art to practice the disclosure,including making and using any devices or systems and performing anyincorporated methods. The patentable scope of the disclosure is definedby the claims, and may include other examples that occur to thoseskilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within thescope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differfrom the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalentstructural elements with insubstantial differences from the literallanguages of the claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An illicit activity monitoring (IAM)computer system for identifying illicit websites and merchants, the IAMcomputer system comprising: a payment processing network serverconfigured to process payment card transactions over a paymentprocessing network using a set of proprietary communication standardsfor the exchange of financial transaction data and the settlement offunds between financial institutions that are members of the paymentprocessing network, wherein said payment processing network server isconfigured to: store a plurality of merchant codes, each merchant codeassociated with a corresponding one of a plurality of merchantsregistered to submit transactions to the payment processing network viaone of the member financial institutions; receive a plurality ofauthorization request messages, each authorization request messageincluding payment transaction data for a payment transaction, thepayment transaction data including one of the merchant codes; and storethe payment transaction data in a transaction history database; and anillicit website identifying (IWI) computing device, the IWI computingdevice including a processor in communication with a memory, saidprocessor programmed to: provide keywords associated with an illicitproduct to a web-crawler; receive suspect website data from theweb-crawler; store, at the memory, a log of suspect illicit websitesidentified from the suspect website data, the log including respectivewebsite content associated with each suspect illicit website, whereineach suspect illicit website is associated with a respective merchant;store, at the memory, one or more rules for confirming the suspectillicit websites as illicit based on the payment transaction data, theone or more rules including at least one of a match of a merchantcountry code in the payment transaction data with a high-risk countrycode and a threshold deviation of a payment amount in the paymenttransaction data from an expected price; match at least one paymenttransaction from the transaction history database to a first suspectillicit website of the log of suspect illicit websites by identifying atleast a portion of the website content associated with the first suspectillicit website in at least one data field of the at least one paymenttransaction; confirm, by applying the one or more rules to the matchedat least one payment transaction, the first suspect illicit website asillicit; identify the merchant associated with the matched at least onepayment transaction by matching the merchant code in the matched atleast one payment transaction against the plurality of merchant codesstored by the payment processing network; and generate an identificationreport including the identified illicit website and the identifiedmerchant.
 2. The IAM computer system of claim 1, wherein website contentincludes at least one of merchant details, a product price, andadditional product details.
 3. The IAM computer system of claim 1,wherein said processor is further programmed to transmit anidentification signal to an investigating party, the identificationsignal including the generated identification report.
 4. The IAMcomputer system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmedto transmit a warning signal to the merchant associated with theidentified illicit website, the warning signal including a warning tocease and desist any illicit activities.
 5. The IAM computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to transmit awarning signal to an acquirer associated with the merchant, the warningsignal including a warning to cease and desist any illicit activities.6. The IAM computer system of claim 1, wherein said processor is furtherprogrammed to implement one or more identification rules for performingsaid identification of the first suspect illicit website, and whereinthe one or more identification rules include a match of two or morefields between the payment transaction data and the website content ofthe first suspect illicit website.
 7. A computer-implemented method foridentifying illicit websites and merchants using an illicit activitymonitoring (IAM) computer system including a payment processing networkserver and an illicit website identifying (IWI) computing deviceincluding a processor in communication with a memory, said methodcomprising: storing, at the payment processing network server, aplurality of merchant codes, wherein the payment processing networkserver is configured to process payment card transactions over a paymentprocessing network using a set of proprietary communication standardsfor the exchange of financial transaction data and the settlement offunds between financial institutions that are members of the paymentprocessing network and wherein each merchant code associated with acorresponding one of a plurality of merchants registered to submittransactions to the payment processing network via one of the memberfinancial institutions; receiving, at the payment processing networkserver, a plurality of authorization request messages including paymenttransaction data for a payment transaction, the payment transaction dataincluding one of the merchant codes; storing, by the payment processingnetwork server, the payment transaction data in a transaction historydatabase; providing, by the IWI computing device, keywords associatedwith an illicit product to a web-crawler; receiving, by the IWIcomputing device, suspect website data from the web-crawler; storing, atthe memory by the IWI computing device, a log of suspect illicitwebsites identified from the suspect website data, the log includingrespective website content associated with each suspect illicit website,wherein each suspect illicit website is associated with a respectivemerchant; storing, at the memory by the IWI computing device, one ormore rules for confirming the suspect illicit websites as illicit basedon the payment transaction data, the one or more rules including atleast one of a match of a merchant country code in the paymenttransaction data with a high-risk country code and a threshold deviationof a payment amount in the payment transaction data from an expectedprice; matching, by the IWI computing device, at least one paymenttransaction from the transaction history database to a first suspectillicit website of the log of suspect illicit websites by identifying atleast a portion of the website content associated with the first suspectillicit website in at least one data field of the least one paymenttransaction; confirming, by the IWI computing device applying the one ormore rules to the matched at least one payment transaction, the firstsuspect illicit website as illicit; identifying, by the IWI computingdevice, the merchant associated with the matched at least one paymenttransaction by matching the merchant code in the matched at least onepayment transaction against the plurality of merchant codes stored bythe payment processing network; and generating, by the IWI computingdevice, an identification report including the identified illicitwebsite and the identified merchant.
 8. The computer-implemented methodof claim 7, further comprising storing by the IWI computing device,website content associated with each suspect illicit website, whereinwebsite content includes at least one of merchant details, a productprice, and additional product details.
 9. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 7, further comprising transmitting, by the IWI computingdevice, an identification signal to an investigating party, theidentification signal including the generated identification report. 10.The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprisingtransmitting, by the IWI computing device, a warning signal to themerchant associated with the identified illicit website, the warningsignal including a warning to cease and desist any illicit activities.11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprisingtransmitting, by the IWI computing device, a warning signal to anacquirer associated with the merchant, the warning signal including awarning to cease and desist any illicit activities.
 12. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein identifying the firstsuspect illicit website and the merchant associated therewith as illicitfor further investigation comprises implementing, by the IWI computingdevice, one or more identification rules, wherein the one or moreidentification rules include a match of two or more fields between thepayment transaction data and the website content of the first suspectillicit website.
 13. At least one non-transitory computer-readablestorage media having (i) a first set of computer-executable instructionsembodied thereon for execution by a payment processing network serverconfigured to process payment card transactions over a paymentprocessing network using a set of proprietary communication standardsfor the exchange of financial transaction data and the settlement offunds between financial institutions that are members of the paymentprocessing network, and (ii) a second set of computer-executableinstructions embodied thereon for execution by an illicit websiteidentifying (IWI) computing device, the IWI computing device includingat least one processor in communication with a memory, wherein the firstset of computer-executable instructions cause the payment processingnetwork server to: store a plurality of merchant codes, each merchantcode associated with a corresponding one of a plurality of merchantsregistered to submit transactions to the payment processing network viaone of the member financial institutions; receive a plurality ofauthorization request messages, each authorization request messageincluding payment transaction data for a payment transaction, thepayment transaction data including one of the merchant codes; store thepayment transaction data in a transaction history database; and whereinthe second set of computer-executable instructions, when executed by theIWI computing device, cause the IWI computing device to: providekeywords associated with an illicit product to a web-crawler; receivesuspect website data from the web-crawler; store, at the memory, a logof suspect illicit websites identified from the suspect website data,the log including respective website content associated with eachsuspect illicit website, wherein each suspect illicit website isassociated with a respective merchant; store, at the memory, one or morerules for confirming the suspect illicit websites as illicit based onthe payment transaction data, the one or more rules including at leastone of a match of a merchant country code in the payment transactiondata with a high-risk country code and a threshold deviation of apayment amount in the payment transaction data from an expected price;match at least one payment transaction from the transaction historydatabase to a first suspect illicit website of the log of suspectillicit websites by identifying at least a portion of the websitecontent associated with the first suspect illicit website in at leastone data field of the at least one payment transaction; confirm, byapplying the one or more rules to the matched at least one paymenttransaction, the first suspect illicit website as illicit; identify themerchant associated with the matched at least one payment transaction bymatching the merchant code in the matched at least one paymenttransaction against the plurality of merchant codes stored by thepayment processing network; and generate an identification reportincluding the identified illicit website and the identified merchant.14. The computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein websitecontent includes at least one of merchant details, a product price, andadditional product details.
 15. The computer-readable storage media ofclaim 13, wherein the second set of computer-executable instructions,when executed by the IWI computing device, further cause the IWIcomputing device to transmit an identification signal to aninvestigating party, the identification signal including the generatedidentification report.
 16. The computer-readable storage media of claim13, wherein the second set of computer-executable instructions, whenexecuted by the IWI computing device, further cause the IWI computingdevice to transmit a warning signal to at least one of the merchantassociated with the identified illicit website and an acquirerassociated with the merchant, the warning signal including a warning tocease and desist any illicit activities.
 17. The computer-readablestorage media of claim 13, wherein the second set of computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the IWI computing device, further causethe IWI computing device to implement one or more identification rulesto identify the first suspect illicit website as illicit, and whereinthe one or more identification rules include: a match of two or morefields between the payment transaction data and the website content ofthe first suspect illicit website.